Almost exactly one month after I started working here at Leader to Leader Institute, I was given the opportunity to attend Frances’ farewell event at West Point Military Academy, marking the end of her tenure as the Class of 1951 Chair for Leadership Studies. I don’t think I fully understood the resonance of this position and how deeply is rings with all those involved until that night.
On my first day here at Leader to Leader, I went through the usual orientation rituals: overview of the handbook, lunch with the staff, meetings with my supervisors and colleagues. I also spent some time reading Frances’ newest book, My Life in Leadership, and I heard a lot about Frances and West Point. It was immediately clear that they have a deep bond, those 16,000 acres on the Hudson River and this quiet, but wisely authoritative new figure in my life. I heard a lot about Frances’ trips to West Point, her Leadership Dialogues with the cadets, her close friendships with Major Katie Matthews and Colonel Tom Kolditz. Leader to Leader has a close relationship with the United States military, based in their shared commitment to service, a relationship that is revealing itself to me more and more every day.
We traveled as a group to West Point on Friday afternoon, accompanied by some of Leader to Leader’s close friends and our neighbors here at Mutual of America. (For the past twenty years, Mutual of America, an organization with strong values in community and service, has donated office space to Leader to Leader in their New York City offices!)
Security on campus is tight, but Frances’ name and mission allowed us passage. Friday had been a dreary, chilly day here in New York, but when we arrived at West Point, the skies cleared and we enjoyed sunshine on a balcony overlooking sports fields and cadets training with parachutes. I was duly impressed.
When the reception itself began, Colonel Kolditz led the speeches, speaking about Frances’s insights and leadership shared with the cadets. Tom Moran, CEO of Mutual of America and one of Frances’s Leadership Dialogue guests, gave a warm and funny glimpse in to his experiences in their friend/partnership. Major Katie Matthews, Frances’s right hand at West Point, spoke about their mutual benefits and how their friendship will transcend Frances’ commitments to the military academy. It was here that I shifted from impressed to awed.
Frances was the first woman and the first non-graduate of West Point to hold the Class of 1951 Chair of Leadership Studies position. Her experiences from a career and a lifetime in the social sector are clearly invaluable, although events like the one at West Point honor them well. The entire event was friendly, encouraging and had an overall tone of dedication, mission and pride. Everyone from myself and the attending cadets to Brigadier General Belinda Pinckney (US Army, ret.) and CEO Tom Moran enjoyed the evening hugely.
Until that night, I don’t think I had fully realized the scope of Leader to Leader’s reach and mission, or what I had truly gotten myself in to with my new job here. The work and the guidance that Leader to Leader Institute propagates reaches from small nonprofits to the United States army. Witnessing her farewell reception at West Point gave me all the motivation and excitement in the world to jump in and be a part of something great. Frances refers to her staff as some of the best people in the world—the feeling is mutual.
By Caitlin Orbanek
